FREE/BARGAIN — Media Deals (non-eBook/non-audiobook)

[GtrsRGr8]

The giveaway today of a free piece by Franz Schubert marks the last of the freebies from YourClassical for the week (M-F).

The piece is Schubert's Violin Sonata in D Major: III. Allegro Vivace. This particular rendition is part of an Artek album called Schubert - Fantasie and Sonatinas for Violin and Piano. It, along with all of the pieces on the album, are performed by Andres Cardenes (violin) and David Deveau (piano).

The piece is formatted in MP3. This rendition runs 4 minutes, 13 seconds long. A link (it says, "Artek AR-0065-2") on YourClassical's dedicated webpage for the free piece takes you to a dedicated webpage from Naxos Publishing for the album where you can learn more about the entire said album.

Stream and/or download the free piece from YourClassical's dedicated webpage for the free piece. The stream bar is located just below the photo of the album cover. The (direct) link to free download is a little less obvious, but it is the one which says, "Direct MP3 download link." Clicking on it causes the download of the free piece to start immediately.

The piece is pleasant, IMHO, despite the fact that I don't care for violin music and there is a fairly heavy presence of that in the track.

[GtrsRGr8]

Some MobileReaders probably don't like Mondays, because they have to go back to work after having the weekend off. I like Mondays, because that means that we start a new week (M-F) of free classical tracks, courtesy of YourClassical.

The information on the cover of the album, from which we get today's free piece, is arranged in a confusing way to me. But if understand it correctly, this Naxos album is what I would call an anthology: Johan Halvorsen and Carl Nielsen do violin concertos; Johan Svendsen does a Romance piece. That piece is dominated by violin, too. Does Svendsen play it? I think so, but I'm not sure since below that information gives credit to Henning Kraggerud on the violin! Well, when does he play? It seems like all of the violin playing on the album has been spoken for by other people! One thing seems sure: Malmo Symphony Orchestra plays the non-violin parts, with Bjarte Engeset conducting. If you like puzzles, you can probably figure this one out by viewing the information given on the dedicated Naxos webpage for the entire album.

I'm certain that the free piece that we get from the album is the Romance from Johan Svendsen, that it is formatted in MP3, and that it is 7 minutes and 29 seconds long.

I'm also certain that you can stream and/or download the free piece from YourClassicalto by navigating to this webpage. Unless you are blind in one eye and can't see out of the other one, the stream bar should be easy to spot. A little less apparent is the link to download the piece--it is labeled "Direct MP3 download link."

Now the following is strictly opinion. There is no right or wrong answer. I found the piece to be pleasant, even though the violin was dominant. You may have read me before when I said that I generally do not like violin music. Much of it seems too grating; but this free piece was not that way.

[GtrsRGr8]

I was fixin' (Southern for "about to") go to bed, but I saw that the YourClassical freebie of the day was already up . . . .

It is a Johannes Brahms piece - Piano Quartet No. 2: Finale. It comes from a Naxos album called Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 - Mahler Piano Quartet. For those unfamiliar with Brahms' works, and especially his Piano Quartet No. 2, this piece is lively and generally has a fast tempo.

All of the following are credited with the piece (besides Brahms, of course. ha): Anton Barakhovsky, violin; Alexander Zemtsov, viola; Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, cello; Eldar Nebolsin, piano. I found it odd that no conductor's name was given.

The free piece is formatted MP3, as always. It's a pretty lengthy piece, running 10 minutes, 24 seconds as performed by the present ensemble.

Here are a couple of important links for you. First, is the dedicated Naxos webpage for the entire album (helpful, but a little sparse with the information this time). The second one is to the dedicated YourClassical webpage for the free piece. From there you can stream the entire piece and/or download it (click on the "Direct MP3 download link" link).

[GtrsRGr8]

The free download for the week from Classical-music.com is Carolyn Sampson performs Mozart's 'Exsultate, jubilate'.

From BBC Music Magazine (whose official website is Classical-music.com), this blurb:
This week's free download is the 'Exsultate' from Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate. It is performed by Carolyn Sampson and conducted by Masaaki Suzuki. The disc is Recording of the Month in our January issue - out now.

‘Suzuki grasps the directness of Mozart's Catholic faith,' writes Berta Joncus. 'Gone are the operatic flashes found in earlier big-name Mass recordings: stripping the score right back, Suzuki makes musicianship dominate'

The free download is formatted in MP3 (stereo, even! ). It is 4 minutes and 21 seconds long.

Classical-music.com directs you to this eclassical webpage for "full information." Should you wish to purchase the entire album, this is one of what I'm sure are several places, where you can do it.

You probably know the drill, by now, to download Classical-music.com's free downloads:
1. Be registered to Classical-music.com's website.
2. Make sure that you're logged in. If you're not, then log in.
3. Go to this Classical-music.com webapge. If you are, in fact, logged in, there should be a bright red button, superimposed over the thumbnail image of the album cover, that says "Download Now."
4. Click on the button.
5. The free piece should automatically download to your default device.

I liked the instrumental part of the free piece, but not the vocal part (that's typical for me, though).

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

The free download for the week from Classical-music.com is Carolyn Sampson performs Mozart's 'Exsultate, jubilate'.

http://www.classical-music.com/free-...ltate-jubilate

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

http://www.classical-music.com/free-...ltate-jubilate

My bad. Thanks for the correction.

That's typical of how this whole week has gone for me so far.

The specific link that you gave should replace the one that I gave for point #3, near the bottom of the page.

If you need to have a correct link for #1, probably a link to just about any classical-music.com webpage will work. Try Classical-music.com first, since it is the simplest. I could not readily find the information needed to sign up, but Classical-music.com may have turned that feature off for me, since I'm already a subscriber.

Your post gives me the opening to let you guys know that I've got some urgent matters to take care of for at least the rest of this week, and likely will not be able to make any more YourClassical posts, or any other posts for that matter, this week. You should be able to find each day's free classical music posts from previous instructions that I've given. If not, Koland has a website where she posts them, the only difference being that she gets the information from another website than I do.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Your post gives me the opening to let you guys know that I've got some urgent matters to take care of for at least the rest of this week, and likely will not be able to make any more YourClassical posts, or any other posts for that matter, this week.

Best of luck with your matters - hope it's more annoyance than disaster.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Best of luck with your matters - hope it's more annoyance than disaster.

They're annoyances that I'm trying to prevent from becoming disasters.

Thanks for your well wishes.

[GtrsRGr8]

I need to make a correction.

In post #1284 (dated 1-7-17) of this thread, I made the statement, concerning Naxos' giveaway of Rossini albums this month, that "the offer will be good until the first part of next month, around the time that the next Naxos promo like this comes out." I just found out that what I said was apparently in error. I am almost sure that I have made similar statements, before, too, about these offers.

Naxos clearly states in their Free Album Offer Guide that "Offers are valid for a limited period of time. The offer period in each of our offers will vary so make sure you claim your download before the specified end date. Otherwise, an expired offer will automatically become unavailable and cannot be reinstated or extended." Somehow I not only had missed that information, but had also gotten in my mind that an offer ended (only) when the new one came out.

I had found out this information after having gone to the webpage showing the choice of Rossini albums, but not being able to access the information. I wanted to go ahead and make my choice. I waited too late, it seems. It has only been 12 days since I made the post, but I probably had made the post about the offer after it had been posted at Naxos a day or two earlier.

I hate it that I missed out on getting one of the Rossini albums. I'll tell myself that I don't like Rossini anyway, so I'll feel better about it. ha

[GtrsRGr8]

Let me share with you, especially those who actually expressed possible interest in downloading one of the FLAC Rossini albums, some information, mostly what I learned from emailing Naxos. In fact, let me just quote the entire message--it's not long.

>Anna Mhay Saquing (Naxos Customer Service)
Jan 20, 10:03 AM HKT

Dear Mr. xxxxxxxx,

Thank you for your email.

We would like to inform you that the free album should still be available at this time. If you are unable to download the files, kindly let us know which album you chose so we can send you the zip file.

Meanwhile, it is true that there is an expiration on each month's free album offer. However, we provide zipped files to our customers who are unable to download the files even after its expiration (or a month after it expired).

Looking forward to hear from you.

Warmest regards,

Anna Mhay Saquing
Customer Service
Naxos Digital Services Ltd.
Customer.Service@Naxos.com<

Well, I tried getting the webpage with all of the Rossini choices and the download buttons for each. I still couldn't get the page (I still got a webpage with the heading, "Sorry, but the link you are trying to access appears to be unavailable."). However, Ms. Saquing says that we can get them, so I believe that we can get them. I don't know how many people on this thread would like any one of them, however. Maybe no one dilly-dallied like I did, and they've already made their choice of albums).

They're nice folks at Naxos. Give them your business.

[Red Falcon]

Naxis started off as an alternative to the big classical labels. They wanted to expand what was being recorded beyond what the major labels were doing at the time. They focused on low price recordings with what was considered "second tier" players, conductors and orchestras. A lot of these are now mainstays with Naxos as they are just as good as the marquee names on the big labels IMO. Naxos is now one of the biggest classical music labels and distributors in the world and has commissioned new works and has premiered a lot of stuff that has newly surfaced out of archives and such. There Marco Polo label focuses on mostly Chinese Classical Music but has delved into Japanese, Korean and Middle Eastern stuff as well. Through their distribution deal with CPO they have brought to light a lot of the minor 19th Century composers and salon music (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_) of the Majors.

Through there 4 CD mystery box I was introduced to so much classical music I would not have heard without it. The mystery box program was one where you would receive 4 CD's each month of Naxos choosing based on your personal profile for the price of three recordings. You then had the option to return up to six recordings a year and receive different CD's. I really wish they would revive this program with a digital component but they seem to be focusing on their streaming offerings these days. I would much rather own the stuff.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Well, just a few days ago, Naxos newsletter subscribers were able to grab a free album of Naxos' choosing. Today they announced their usual second free classical album of the month offer.
<snip>

As I mentioned in post #'s 1314 and 1315 of this thread, some of us were unable to see the choices of albums, with their individual tracks, this time. Along with that information on the webpage, too, are the download buttons for the respective albums.

If you had that experience, please follow the discussion on the thread E-Book General > News > FLAC Support Coming to Chrome and Firefox this Month. Start scanning the posts beginning with #15. If you wish just to cut to the chase, read post #35 of that thread.

The long-and-short of it is this: if you weren't able to download one of the three albums offered by Naxos--all from composer Rossini--in their second classical album giveaway of the month this month, you still should be able to get it by directly contacting a certain person, a Ms. Saquig, at Naxos.

[koland]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Well, I tried getting the webpage with all of the Rossini choices and the download buttons for each. I still couldn't get the page (I still got a webpage with the heading, "Sorry, but the link you are trying to access appears to be unavailable."). However, Ms. Saquing says that we can get them, so I believe that we can get them. I don't know how many people on this thread would like any one of them, however. Maybe no one dilly-dallied like I did, and they've already made their choice of albums).

They're nice folks at Naxos. Give them your business.

I do like the company (and their recordings). Just checked and I can still see the selections for this month. You might try clearing the cache on that page and disabling adblock (and enable flash).

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by koland

I do like the company (and their recordings). Just checked and I can still see the selections for this month. You might try clearing the cache on that page and disabling adblock (and enable flash).

Thanks. I'll try that. I'm surprised that the representative at Naxos, Ms. Saquing, did not suggest that.

Question for everyone: have any of you been able to download any one of the most recent (all Rossini) free FLAC albums from Naxos this month? If so, when did you download it? Please let me know; if so, a change in settings on the computer might take care of the problem. Although, I have had no issues with it heretofore and, in fact, shortly after I saw the promotion available, I was able to see the albums with all of their tracks, download buttons, etc. It was only several days later, that I couldn't do it. But Microsoft installed at least one update (as usual, without asking me first or letting me select what I wanted and didn't want) somewhere along that time; that might have boogered things up (I feel the urge to physically harm the person(s) responsible for putting Cortana on my machine).

BTW--she has not returned my email yet asking for her to send me the zip file of the Rossini album that I chose (Overtures, Vol. 2). I think that she is based in Hong Kong, though, and she probably had gone for the weekend by that time (with the International Date Line demarking Friday from Saturday, with us being in Friday and her being in Saturday (I think that that is how it works)) that I sent my last email message. She had replied very speedily to my initial message.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Question for everyone: have any of you been able to download any one of the most recent (all Rossini) free FLAC albums from Naxos this month? If so, when did you download it?

I dl'd Rossini Complete Overtures Vol. 2 on the 8th without any issues.